


How did We Get Here

by tobiismycat



Series: Tim aught to shut his doors [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Damian is doing his best, Gen, HI lemme just, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, appologize right now, assassin training doesn't include comfort skillz, implied Tim Drake/Jason Todd - Freeform, uncomfortable chats TM
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-06-27 02:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19781707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobiismycat/pseuds/tobiismycat
Summary: Damian overhears something he shouldn't have and it leads to some unforeseen bonding.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> sup y'all I'm..... NEW. ahem also first lemme just get right up in here with an apology. 
> 
> ahhhnd second hi y'all we're about to discus some ehhh id say light to mild past self harm.

A whisper caught his attention, then a flutter of fabric as something was grabbed. Damian stopped and moved back to the door he had just passed. He leaned into the door, gently opening it a little further.

“Don’t,” Tim said more loudly. His thin wrists were held in Jason's tight grip. He sounded tired and maybe even embarrassed. Damian watched them, confused not only at what kind of altercation he was witnessing but also at the weird feeling in his chest. 

Jason pulled him closer, towering over his pajama clad form. “You lied to me, Tim.“

Tim shook his head, “I didn’t—I swear. “

He tried to explain further, but the bigger man gave him a gentle shake, at odds with how he was gripping him and the look on his face. “Yeah, what’s that then?” He shook one of Tim's arms again.

Tim looked away. “A mistake, I’m sorry.”

Jason looked like he was trying to say something. Emotion flew across his face, He squeezed Tim's arms harder while he tried to gather his words.

“Let go, please, you’re hurting me,“ Tim mumbled. That settled it. Damian shoved the door open and marched in. “Release him and leave.”

No one moved. Tim's face was beet red.

Damian stepped closer. “Remove yourself from this house or I’ll do it myself”

Jason scowled and stormed out of the room. Calling over his shoulder: ”We aren't done with this chat.“

Damian watched the door until they couldn't hear his boots on the hardwood anymore. He turned to Tim. “Are you injured?”

Tim shook his head, still deeply red in the face. He stared at his bare feet. Damian gently, like he was picking up a baby bird took Tim's hand and led him out of the room.

They ended up in his bedroom

Damian locked the door behind them and pushed Tim at the bed urging him to sit on it. Once they were both seated on the big plush bed Damian broke the comfortable silence.

“Does he do that often?” Damian asked quietly.

Tim pulled his attention from the swirled paisley pattern on the bed. “Oh no! It’s really not what it looked like. I promise.“

Damian raised an eyebrow. “He was hurting you.”

“Yeah. No! I mean no.“ Tim sighed. High pitched and frustrated. He put his hands over his face. Damian waited him out.

The room was silent aside from Titus snoring faintly from the open closet door.

“Before you got here... When I needed things to stop, my thoughts wouldn’t leave me alone and I just needed everything to be quiet for a minute—I, uh, used to cut myself, sometimes…” Tim looked everywhere but at Damian; he was red in the face and his eyes looked shiny. Damian selfishly hoped he wouldn't cry.

“So Jason was holding your arms like that because he found out?”

Tim shook his head. “No, uh, he already knew. I was so stupid. Almost a month ago, I did it again. He put his head in his hands, speaking through his fingers. “It was bad. I knew the second I did it that I'd made a huge mistake.” Tim sniffed harder trying to calm his rioting emotions. “Jesus, you’re like ten—I shouldn't be telling you this.”

Damian rolled his eyes. ”I’m twelve, and I've been trained to inflict much worse. Continue, I wish to know.“ After a moment of hesitation he reached out and gently touched Tim's knee, just brushing it with his finger tips. He wasn’t the best at comfort. For all his training, it seemed these things were harder to do then expected.

Tim sniffled and wiped his nose messily on his sleeve.

“I only did it once, and I had hoped that it would be mistaken as something I got in battle. But of fucking course he knew exactly what I did.“ Tim wiped his nose again

“Can I see?“ Damian asked quietly, shuffling forwards so he was crouched on his knees in front of Tim.

Tim sighed again and, chewing on his lip, he pulled up both of his sleeves. He held them out under Damian's nose.

Unlike Dick or Jason, Tim's arms had been left fairly untouched by battle scars and attacks. He had a few old burn scars, both fire and acid, from when Dr Crane tried to use corrosive fear gas. There was one, however, was pink and raised still, as wide as the cord charging Damian's laptop on the desk.

“The second I did it I knew I’d done something stupid. It’s healing, it just looks ugly right now.”

Damian ran his small thumb over the short cut. The new skin was baby soft. Shadowing over his knobby wrist bones showed Damian where the hand print from Jason's hand was beginning to form already.

“Only one of these is self inflicted?” Damian asked. He had been there for many of the fainter marks, but he wanted to hear it from the source.

Tim nodded, “Whenever I did it before I just wanted it to hurt, like a paper cut. Anything I did to myself was intended to be only a scratch.“ Damian nodded and allowed Tim to take his arms back. Titus snored and rolled over fro his closet bed, the room was quiet again while the boys tried to collect their thoughts. 

“To be clear, Jason was reacting poorly to finding this, rather then being cruel to you.“

Damian looked him in the eyes while he said it. For the first time all night Tim met his gaze, teary eyed and red faced. “Yes. You did good, coming to my rescue. I didn’t need rescuing, I promise, but you did a great job.” Cheeks heating under the praise, Damian dropped his gaze from Tim’s watery eyes to his arms in his lap.

The room lapsed into silence for a little while before something occurred to Damian.

“You say you have injured yourself to stop the thoughts in your head?“ he asked.

Tim nodded slightly, hearing it from someone else made it sound worse and at the same time smaller. Like he had been overly dramatic and stupid.

“I have an idea for something that may help you in the future.” Damian got down off the bed and walked to the door. “Perhaps the pain of eating something hot and spicy may have the same effect for you. ”

Tim followed him out the door being, careful not to let it slam behind them. It was nearing two in the morning after all and the last thing he wanted was to wake up Bruce or run into Alfred right now. Damian's idea seemed like a sound one.

They crept along to the kitchen where Damian began snooping through the contents of the pantry and fridges.

“What are you looking for?” Tim asked.

“I have seen Father consume aggressively scented chicken wings until his face turned red and tears ran from his eyes. I am unaware how make them, however.“ The small boy scowled. Tim laughed. “You mean buffalo wings? You know we can just get those delivered, right? There are plenty of all night hot wing places in Gotham.“

Damian watched Tim as he hopped on the counter and pulled out his phone to call their order in. His eyes were still red and it would be intensely obvious to anyone who came in and saw him that he had been crying and upset.

A weird feeling bubbled in his chest. He didn't want anyone to see Tim like this and ask questions—which would no doubt work him to humiliated tears again.

“Could we perhaps go get them ourselves? A car pulling up to the house at this time of night would draw unwanted attention.“

Tim wiped his still running nose and looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

“Perhaps we could borrow one of Fathers cars and get the food ourselves,” Damian suggested.

Tim grinned widely. “Alright, sneaky, let’s go. You pick the car and I’ll drive.”

Damian watched as Tim smiled and hopped off the counter. That weird feeling was back, popping like bubbles inside him. 


	2. Sharing is caring

The door creaked open and Damian crept in. Tim's room glowed lightly from the light of his computer screen, He was still up after patrol had been cut short for the night. Tim glanced up as he entered, “ what's wrong munchkin, bad dream ?” 

After that night where Tim dumped his most personal secret into Damian's lap they had been closer. Damian was strangely protective of the taller boy. Getting in the way of more aggressive play and sitting with him at dinner, even going as far as to bring Tim his favorite blanket if he thought it was needed. Damian stopped in the middle of the room, seeming to reconsider his action.  
“ it’s fine I’m just playing some computer games before bed. “ Tim reassured him, Sometimes Damian was a little weird about interrupting him. Sometimes it was fine and he would sit silently beside Tim and entertain himself and sometimes he acted like he wanted permission to be there. 

Damian headed for Tim's closet and pulled open the door, disappearing inside with a soft thump. Tim was at his side in a flash, relieved when he found Damian kneeling beside a pile of stuffed animals and not snooping through anything else. 

“ I cannot find my monkey, “ he muttered, kneeling in the pile of stuffed toys. Tim leaned over to watch, biting his lip as the smaller boy chose a doll before trying to leave the room, gray plush dragon clutched under his arm. 

That was fine, sharing is caring after all.

“ you can uh, stay if you want. “ Tim called as Damian trudged out. 

The smaller boy turned and looked at him, seeming to consider it, looking between the big bed and Tim. “ Common you can help me create some Sims “ Tim coaxed as he climbed back into his bed, pulling the blanket back for Damian to join him. “ I suppose that would be alright “ Damian allowed, cheeks turning the faintest shade of pink as he climbed in the bed,   
He snuggled into Tim's shoulder with the dragon in his lap while Tim brought up the Sims on his laptop. 

Yeah there was no problem here, 

The problem came the next morning when, for some reason Damian brought the dragon to breakfast. They were sitting on the couch watching early morning cartoons when Dick spotted it. He stopped dead still in the living room. Cereal half way to his mouth. 

“ where did you get a bad dragon doll, “ 

They looked up at him, Damian not understanding why he sounded almost scandalized. Tim playing dumb. “ why, is it yours?” Damian asked, Dick shook his head, “ nah its a uh limited edition doll form a while ago is all, they were real popular and I haven't seen one in a while. ” Damian frowned at him, and Tim tried hard to control the blush on his face. Dick backed out of the room eating his mushy cereal and that was it. 

If Tim thought that was it he was wrong.   
Jason cornered him by his room later that night.

“ Dick tells me you have a naughty stuffed animal “ Tim rolled his eyes, “ it's not dirty, it's a perfectly normal stuffed animal.” Jason grinned “ a normal stuffed animal you got from a porn website. “ The bigger boy chuckled and looked around before leaning in to continue harassing him. “ you got it from a porn site and your just, letting the baby sleep with it and carry it around the house “ he teased. Tim blushed but rolled his eyes,

“ it's not like its anatomically correct jeez. They lapse into silence as Dick runs by with Damian and Titus on his heels. He’s laughing breathlessly as he sprints down the hall and skids around a corner. 

“ soooo, you got anything else from bad dragon hidden in your room ?” Jason asked, side eying Tim with a devious grin on his face. Tim flushed beat red from his neck to his ears. Swatting at Jason with both hands. “ No! Shhhh! Not while Damian's around !”

**Author's Note:**

> believe it or not i'm a A average creative writing major at college rn. 
> 
> but yeah so uh hit me right the fuck up with all your chatting needs.  
> i'm only mean if your mean first. 
> 
> hi lemme apologize again for what i did to Tim.  
> also if the formatting is a terror.


End file.
